CHARMED
"Desperate Measures"
Summary
Cole starts another plot to get Phoebe back – will he succeed this time?
Timeline
Season 5 after 5x09 Dearest Daddy
Disclaimer
I don't own anything about Charmed.
A/N
Please let me know what you think of the story.
English is not my first language – so please bear with the inevitable mistakes. The story is un-betaed, only what I and my word processor were able to do.
Kidnapped
Cole had been observing Phoebe 24x7 for some days. Since the Charmed Ones had tried to vanquish him and had failed he felt off. He had wandered off and had challenged some allegedly strong demons, but none of them could harm him in the least. In turn he had killed them, out of pure anger that they had failed at killing him.
Besides the avatars being permanently on his tail didn't make his mood any better. He couldn't vanquish them and they wouldn't leave him in peace. Only when he watched Phoebe, he felt some calmness. He watched Phoebe go to work and back home, meet with friends, go shopping. He was very cautiously that she didn't recognize him.
He had found out that she preferred to work late lately. It seemed she enjoyed the quiet office and the time alone. Well, the Manor wasn't the quietest place to be, that was for sure.
He had finished all arrangements and was now waiting for the perfect moment to approach her. He feared it a little bit, since it would be his last chance. The last chance for him to get her back. If this failed he would stop fighting the Avatars and give into their demands.
Cole shimmered into the editorial office of the Bay Mirror and slowly approached her office. He could see her tipping fervently through the folds of the window.
For this evening he had taken the effort to change his clothes. He hadn't bothered in the last weeks. He had always worn the same grey outworn T-shirt, his old jeans and the brown leather jacket with the fur sleeve. He hadn't bothered that he rank.
For meeting Phoebe he had shaven, showered and put on one of his suits. She had always liked him wear suits. He had left away the neck tie and had the up most buttons of his red shirt unbuttoned. He wanted to make a good and not threatening impression on her. To seduce her a little would only help his case. He had just one try and it had to work.
Phoebe was working on a particular difficult letter. She was chewing on her pen and tipping in to her laptop swiftly. She got so much more work done, without her colleagues or sisters always interrupting her. She had taken a likening to work in the night. So she could sleep through part of the day.
She heard a noise outside her office and lifted her head. She saw the outline of a person coming towards her office. She looked at her watch surprised. Almost 12 pm. Normally she was the only one working that late.
She looked at her door expectantly and wasn't really surprised that the late visitor turned out to be Cole. But she was thoroughly surprised by his looks. He didn't look lost or crazy like she had last seen him in his flat. He looked composed and in decent clothes.
"You are working late," he commented and lent against the doorframe, caressing her with his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" She ignored his comment and the butterflies his glance still stirred up in her tummy, and peered at him suspiciously over her laptop screen. "I thought we established that I don't want to see you again."
"Just wanted to talk," he offered good-naturedly. He kept his hands in his pockets.
"I don't know what we would have to talk about Cole," she fended him off, rolling her eyes and turning her attention to her letter again.
Unimpressed he walked over and sat down in the stool in front of her desk, looking at her intensely. Waiting, just watching her.
"What?" She asked after some minutes peering over her glasses again. It looked like ignoring him wasn't going to work.
"Nothing," he shrugged, "I just came to tell you that I'm really sorry I freaked out like that. I was just so desperate and lonely and couldn't take it anymore. I needed a way out, to make this feelings stop. You and your sisters seemed like the best choice." He looked miserably at her.
"Cole," Phoebe took of her glasses and put them on the table, "it's not working that way. You can't just attack my family, hurt them and than come by and say sorry and think everything is forgotten."
She shook her head in disbelieve. For the smart person Cole was he lacked common sense in these things.
"I know, " he acknowledged meekly, "I understand that. Still I want you to know that I have myself under control again and….that I know it was wrong what I did, goading you to vanquish me. I'm truly sorry."
He propped his arms on his knees and buried his face in his hands.
Phoebe pulled up an inquisitive eyebrow. Cole seemed really ashamed of what he had done this time. Maybe she could use it to make him to promise her to go away or at least leave her family and her alone.
"Cole, look," she got up from her chair and came around her desk, and lent slightly against it in front of Cole. He looked up from his hands with a frown.
"I appreciate that you realize that you did something bad, but that doesn't change the fact that you did it. You have to answer for what you do." Phoebe tried to open his eyes.
"I do," he said genuinely, "I will take responsibility for it. It was wrong, and I won't use you or your sisters in that way again. I promise." He was pleading with her with his eyes and Phoebe had to shrug off her blooming sympathy for him.
"All right Cole, I will try to believe you. Again." Phoebe emphasized the last word.
Cole nearly winced but managed to suppress it in the last moment. Phoebe said she trusted him, and he was here to mislead her. But he couldn't forsake his plan, not now, when everything was so neatly arranged. He couldn't falter just because she said she believed in him, maybe she just said it and didn't mean it. Maybe she just wanted to get rid of him.
Only some days ago Phoebe had doubted that she could have a meaningful conversation with Cole ever again. He had been very lunatic, trying to kill himself, but now he seemed at least a little normal. That was a good sign.
She decided she could be nice to him. It was probably in her and her sister's best interest if she didn't piss of a demon they couldn't vanquish. She straightened up and wiped a strand from her face. She wasn't in the mood for working anymore.
"I'm going home now," she told him and hoped he understood the message.
Cole watched her walk around the desk, shut her laptop down and tidy up her working place. She put on her jacket and hung her bag over her shoulder. He kept sitting in the stool just watching her every move.
"Cole, you have to leave now", she put her hand on his shoulder, in a friendly gesture urging him to get moving.
He looked up at her with a very sad and lonely expression in his eyes. It tore at her heart. She never wanted to make him miserable. She never wanted anybody to be miserable because of her. She just wanted to be left alone and forget all the things that had happened to her, because of him, because of magic.
"You will get better, Cole, I promise, just give yourself some time". She tried to encourage him not at least herself, and bent down to brush a quick amicable kiss on his temple.
Cole quickly lifted his head and her lips met his. Surprised and angered by his move Phoebe pulled back immediately but he stood up swiftly, snatched her arms firmly and pulled her closer. He pressed his lips against hers again, kissing her with a passion that made Phoebe almost respond to him.
"Let go of me," she hissed while wrestling against him but Cole had a grip on her.
Her protesting words were muffled by his demanding mouth on her lips. He wasn't backing of an inch, his tongue persistently goading her to let him into her mouth, his arms pressing her into his body.
Phoebe had almost forgotten how strong he was and how good his lips felt. She was struggling as much with the turmoil of feelings inside her as with him to let her go. Blinded by her fury about his behaviour and the shame about her awakening desire for him, Phoebe didn't recognize the beginning of his blur.
tbc
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